Reflections

by

Paul van Dyk

Edit

Make no mistake... this CD is PVD and you know it on the first track. "Crush" takes a little bit to start but once the beat kicks in, its unmistakeably PVD. But after that I have problem with this CD. Instead of keeping the energy high, PVD slows it down for "Time of Our Lives". This is totally unecessary when there is a club mix of that song that would keep the energy high. But that may just be me being picky. I agree with some reviewers that the song "That's Life" has no business being on the CD, it adds nothing.

The songs on this CD that truly reflect PVD's unique sound are "Crush", "Reflections", "Nothing But You"(though I prefer PVD's other remixes much more than the album version), "Connected", "Spellbound", & "Kaleidoscope". "Time of Our Lives" is a great song, but the PVD Club mix is the best version of the song..by far.

Don't get me wrong, this is a good CD. It just isn't the PVD sound I was expecting when I bought it. PVD seems to be trying to expand his library of sounds, but in a good way and not in a Oakenfold way. It's more of an artistic journey than his previous albums, such as Out There and Back. And he still throws down massive trance sets like nobody's business, I saw him recently at Glow in DC. So I'm not worried, just do yourself a favor and check out the other remixes of Nothing But You and Time of Our Lives.

I know it's a bit early to be rating an album that I've only had for a day, but I can tell you right now that this is nowhere near the same quality of material as his previous albums: out there and back and 7 ways.

The singles off this album (nothing but you, connected, and time of our lives) have been been played by PVD over the past year at his various sets. "Nothing but you" is an outstanding tune, but has been and was played to death at his various live sets. I really like "Connected," and am still looking for a way to get this tune as my ringer on my cell phone. "Time of our lives" isn't a bad track, but I do prefer the remixed versions.

Paul experiments with some hip-hop. The hip-hop track 9, doesn't go too very well. Paul should've just stuck to his bread and butter, which he happens to be really good at. Track 10 has Paul singing in the background.

He does a lot of experimenting, butmuch of the music comes across as not being inventive and just a recycling of his previous material- heck, some of the exact melodies from out there and back (namely- mix between love from above and columbia) are rephased over and over in track 8.

The best tracks are: crush, time of our lives, nothing but you, and connected.All the rest don't seem a par to these four. Although I have grown quite partial to reflections. What's disappointing is the lack of non-vocal tracks in this album, I'd count maybe 3. It's a sad progression towards vocal trance that I'm seeing, and I didn't like the saturation of vocal trance in this album. The Jan Johnston tracks are good, but don't stand out like OTAB's Tell me Why did.

No killer track like Another Way can be found. Nor, any innovative tracks like Vega or Avenue.

The problem is that the tracks just seem kinda punched together. There's so much variety between the tracks, that it seems much less a danceable album. There are no mixes between tracks, just plain old-cuts, which just sucks. I realize that Paul has sequenced the tracks because it'd be near impossible to mix the tracks with their various beats. I think more than anything, all the Jan Johnston vocal tracks really turned me off from this album. I like "Calling Your Name" and that's it. I've never been able to stand "Project Freefall" or any other song she's done.

This is definitely not an Out There and Back. Don't purchase this album with that anticipation because you will be disappointed. The last track, is "kladeiscope," I think is pretty weak to end off the album. We need something of energy, a "we are alive", I'm hoping that this isn't the start of a sour progression towards mainstream for paul...

Frankly, this album is just disappointing and PVD fans have waited 3 years for this?

Edit: So writing about this album 4 years later. God, it's been a helluva long time. Since then, Paul has released Politics of Dancing 2 and In Between. While I haven't really had a chance to listen to In Between, POD 2 was a musical disappointment relative to the first POD. 4 years ago, PVD fans were hoping that Reflections was a mere blemish in an otherwise noteworthy career. As it turns out, it was a good sign of the things to come. Although thankfully PVD hasn't turned out a hip hop song since Reflections, some of that magic we saw (especially with 7 Ways) seems to have gone.